Let's Go Flyers!

When I was a kid, my family had season tickets to the Flyers. We all knew Bobby Clarke, Dave Schultz and the boys and were raised to cheer the black and orange. While I put that aside for a while, my brother has kept up the mantra, buying season tickets for his family and watching every game with hope and disgust.

With the 2010 Flyers making us all believe again, I have started indoctrinating Aidan, 6, into the religion. He wears the shirt, knows the schedule, and is excited to see what happens against the Blackhawks (coincidentally my favorite non-Flyers team as a kid).

But I'm not doing a good enough job. For one, I can't keep him up until the games are done, because that doesn't come until after 10 p.m. I also haven't spent his college fund to snag some seats of eBay (this shows my lack of dedication, I'm afraid). I even attended a PTA meeting the night they clinched (although I did check my phone a million times to see the score).

The fact is, I know I have to do more if I'm to get Aidan obsessed. I need to give up my job and pitch a tent outside the Wachovia Center. I need to take him out of school so he can watch the 1970s Flyers and how they brought us the Cup.

I'm a bad dad. Somebody help me!

Suddenly grown up

At age 6, you wouldn't expect your son or daughter to be exhibiting that many characteristics of an adult. Well, I wouldn't. of course, then I'd be wrong.

Aidan has made the leap from adorable little blob of a baby to a toddler to, well, almost a full-fledged dude, complete with opinions, things that embarrass him and the unpleasant reality that he thinks some of the things I do are no longer funny.

While he is still a super-fan (one of my few) he now talks to me in a way much older than his years. He tells me I say the same thing over and over, he asks me "exactly what do you do for the magazine?", he tells me my eyes are wrinkly and my belly is big.

All this he does without wanting to convey any overt harm, he tells me. He isn't being mean; just telling me how it is.

I thought I'd have until he was a teen or even a preteen before he started to notice I'm not overwhelmingly interesting. I thought he'd be in high school before he rolled his eyes and waved me away dismissively.

But now it occurs to me that I have been coasting with him, essentially ignoring coming up with new material because I figured he'd love me for a while longer before deconstructing me. So I am currently working on some new stuff I plan to present before him over the next week or so.

Wish me luck; it's a rough crowd.

Unintentionally unimpressed 6-year-old

Parents Express has won "Best Niche Publication" in the 2010 Pennsylvania Newspapers Association awards, and when I found that out this morning, Aidan, 6, was sitting next to me.
"Wow!" I said.
"What?" he asked.
"I just won an award."
"You did?"
"Yeah! The best specialty publication in my division in the whole state!"
"Wow," he said. "I can't believe you won an award."

Trying new things

Trying to get Aidan, 6, to try new foods is excrutiating. A long-time fan of six snack-like foods (cheese crackers, "Pirate's Booty," corn puffs, waffles with peanut butter, Goldfish crackers and pretzels), we had the sneaking suspicion that he might not have the best diet. On occasion, he'd eat a fruit bar, grilled cheese sandwich, some chicken nuggets and maybe a French fry or two, but that was really pushing it.

It was starting to become an issue, especially when we took him out places (even to kids parties) and had to bring bags of snacks with us as he wouldn't - or couldn't - eat other things.

We assumed it was behaviorial, that he just didn't want to, but then began to hear about kids with texture issues. We also noticed how he would gag on certain benign foods like apple sauce and would get very panicky if certain foods even touched his tongue. This was all very strange because, as a baby, he ate most things we gave him.

My wife wanted to figure out what was going on and we took him to a few specialists who all came to a similar conclusion, "He'll grow out of it."

So beginning this week we are introduing one new food for him to try. Today was yogurt and it wasn't an easy sell. There couldn't be even the tiniest fruit piece included; it had to be strawberry only; he still had to have his other snacks interspersed within spoonfuls of yogurt. During the entire experience, he looked like he was going to gag and desperately wanted to be done.

But he didn't cry, he didn't yell, he didn't say no. He tried and he made it through 3/4 of one container of yogurt. This is a success.

We have no idea what'll happen tomorrow, but good for him for trying and good for my wife for making us do this. As for me, I would probably have just stuck with the six snacks. Bad daddy!

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Aidan, 6, is smarter than Dad, 483

I am happy to say that, unlike most parents, I can actually pinpoint the date on which Aidan surpassed his father in the area of brilliance. It was yesterday, March 23, and it happened after a long day for everyone.

Upon returning home, beaten by life, I encountered my son asleep on the couch. My wife told me he had been snoozing for about a half-hour and that her attempts to waken him had been unsuccessful. I went over to him, said hello quietly and brushed his hair. He made a groan that seemed to say, "If you don't get away from me right now, I am going to kill you."

We Kaye men are known for our violent, if not overly wordy, groans.

He turned over and went back to sleep. A few minutes later I tried again, only to be met with an identical experience. By the third time, I just knelt down next to him and whispered, "Do you want me to carry you upstairs?" To me surprise, he nodded and wheezed a tiny "yes."

I scooped him up and made my way upstairs. Since he is 6 and I am old and feeble, maneuvering the stairs was not as simple as I would have liked. The fact that I didn't bash his head into the wall, banister, window or door was remarkable.

We crept into his room and I gently put him on the bed. As I was about to make my getaway, a small but strong voice said, "My eyes are open, you know."

Nex thing I knew, we were on our way back downstairs. He was too fully awake to be in bed; heck, it was even still light outside. But his groans returned and I offered (for reasons I cannot fathom) to carry him downstairs on my back. He was happy to take that ride, and within minutes we were back where we began.

How this proves that Aidan is smarter than me is the mere fact that, based on a groan, I carried him all the way upstairs, gently and slowly so as to not wake him. He was evidently very much wide awake and was seeing all this as a big joke. Then, after the fraud was revealed, I offered to carry him back downstairs.

These are not the actions of a healthy mind. These are the actions of a father, head over heels in love with his child. And when that happens, and when the dad realizes how helpless he is over it, the child has won. The student has become the master.

Next time, I'm making sure the little monster is asleep. Where's my ibuprofen?

Bubble Plays Beatles' at The World Cafe

For a while now, I've been including all the Peanut Butter & Jams' kids' concerts held almost every Saturday at World Cafe Live, on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, in the calendar section of PARENTS EXPRESS. But it wasn't until my friend and coworker, Frank (the editor of Ticket, the entertainment section of 15 Montgomery Newspapers) asked me to write a story about the concert that i finally decided to go see one.

After all, it was Beatles' music, for cryin' out loud! Who wouldn't want to enjoy some John-Paul-George-Ringo tunes? And with so many Beatles' events happening (including "Rain" at the Kimmel Center), it was time to get Aidan, 6, deeply involved in the integral music. So far, he know a handful of their songs, but not nearly enough to be considered MY son.

I did the interview for Frank, talking to the very friendly and very cool Dave Foster (lead singer and Bubble co-founder) and that story can be found in the Ticket section of www.montgomerynews.com. Dave made me want to attend even more, mainly because he did the interview with a toddler yelling joyfully in the background, without Dave getting upset once.

So Wendy, Aidan and me, jumped in the car and went down to the concert. World Cafe Live - at 11 a.m. on a Saturday - is a fairly quiet place. But you can see that the joint must be a jumping good time other nights of the week. They have an eclectic concert schedule chock full of acts you probably don't know yet, but will. But then, they also have bigger names from the past that are sure to delight all comers.

As soon as we got downstairs, sat on the floor (yes, we all could stretch out on a clean, wood floor) the lights went off and the band came out. For more than an hour, it was a wonderful trip down memory lane. The band highlighted all the songs from "Revolver," a favorite record of mine, and did their versions wonderfully, adhering to the boys' versions. The sound was great, the music fun and lovely, and the sight of seeing so many children, babies and new parents laughing, singing and dancing was terrific. Aidan didn't want to leave until the last song was played, and that is a definite testament to the band and the Beatles.

If you get a chance, go to www.Bubbleland.com to learn more about Bubble, and be sure to go to World Cafe Live to see a great concert in a great venue. You'll go back again and again. Oh, and then rent "A Hard Day's Night." Aidan and I watched it the next morning and it was a silly, funny blast.